Worth reading

The most urgent needs are food aid, temporary shelter, clean water and improved hygiene. In support of the Government of the Philippines response effort, these needs are being met with the help of international and local aid organizations. In addition, The Philippines government, working with USAID partner WFP, has provided 2.5 million food parcels to those in need. These food parcels include rice that was purchased locally by WFP with funding from USAID.

The situation in Somalia has improved, and while it is still early, already some are making the decision to venture back. (..) But the fact remains that half a million refugees are currently living in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya, and they continue to require the same things they needed two years ago: shelter, food, water and safety. (..) Facing a shortage of funding, on November 1, WFP was forced to reduce food rations for refugees in Kenya by 20 percent. If these cuts must be long-lasting or expanded, it could slow or even reverse the refugees' recovery, and endanger their health all over again.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to provide food and relief supplies to as many as 7 million people in Syria and neighboring nations by the end of the year. According to the agency’s executive director, Ertharin Cousin, this daunting task is complicated by the deteriorating security situation, which has included brazen attacks on relief workers.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is preparing to provide food and relief supplies to as many as 7 million people in Syria and neighboring nations by the end of the year. According to the agency’s executive director, Ertharin Cousin, this daunting task is complicated by the deteriorating security situation, which has included brazen attacks on relief workers.

The past year – my first as Executive Director of the World Food Programme – has vanished in a blur. The unfolding crisis in Syria and neighbouring countries has kept all of us in the humanitarian community busy, but for me, it is the continuing crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa that has provided a constant backbeat to my first twelve months in this job.